Wednesday, August 17, 2011

THE QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS...A friend of mine is 28 and for awhile, she was always talking about how this was her quarter-life crisis. Kids born in the '80s are hitting their late 20s now. And as the first generation to be told on a daily basis for their entire childhood, "you're special, unique, and perfect"...the transition to the harsh reality of adult life has been ROUGH.

So this makes sense: According to a new study, having a quarter-life crisis is more common now than having a midlife crisis.

A quarter-life crisis is pretty much what it sounds like: It's like a midlife crisis, but you have a breakdown about how your life is going when you're in your mid-20s...about one-quarter of your way through life.

More people in their 20s reported having a quarter-life crisis than people in their 40s reported having a midlife crisis.

The reasons for having one are all over the place...a career not getting off to a good start, being single, going bald, gaining weight.

A stress expert named Michael Guttridge analyzed the study. He says, "Generation Y, the '80s kids, are becoming quickly disillusioned when faced with the dull reality of work and [being] saddled with debt."

That sounds about like her!

NO MORE NOOKIE......in the dressing room! Wah wah wahhhh...
It's a big day for perverts...and a horrible day for trying on bras.

Apparently, major department stores around the country have started reversing the slats on their dressing room doors. Now, instead of keeping you private and helping you see out of the dressing room, people walking by can see IN.

They say they're doing it to prevent shoplifting. Now employees can walk around the dressing room area and look in on people to make sure they're not stealing.

Of course, it means they'll be able to look in and see you NAKED. And not just the employees...anyone. But the stores aren't so concerned about that.

Apparently Macy's, Dillard's, Ann Taylor Loft, and Saks Fifth Avenue have already installed the reverse slats in several of their stores.

In a statement, Macy's said they've done it because, "Retailers work hard to strike a balance between preserving the privacy of customers, providing customer service, maintaining customer safety in fitting rooms, and deterring theft."

PUT THAT THING AWAY!Maybe you're one of those people who thinks it's a turn-off to see a really hairy dude at the beach. But this alternative seems WAY worse.

Last week in Salisbury, Massachusetts, a 45-year-old man named Christopher Axford was drunkenly shaving off his body hair at the beach. Naked.

The lifeguards on the beach asked him to cover up and stop shaving, but he refused to do either one. So they called the cops.

When the police got there, Christopher was shaving his armpits...his bathing suit was pulled down around his ankles...and he had a towel on his lap. But it wasn't covering his junk.

The cops asked Christopher why he was shaving, and he told them a girl he knows said it was perfectly legal to do it on a beach.

He refused to cover up and stop shaving...so the police ended up arresting him for lewd, wanton, and lascivious conduct, public drinking, and disorderly conduct.

GET IT ON!!People sometimes joke about how there's still a pretty big salary gap between men and women. But this is NO JOKE: Apparently, the fact that women get paid like 70 cents on the dollar is actually keeping men from getting SEX.

A new study out of Florida State University found that the more gender equality there is in a country, the more sex that country has. So when women have money and power and equal rights...everybody's getting-it-on!

Countries with the best gender equality, including several European and Scandinavian countries, have the highest reported frequency of sex.

Places like the U.S., Canada, and England, where the equality isn't quite as high, have somewhat less sex. And Middle Eastern countries and Asian countries have low equality and low sexual frequency.

In the latest global gender gap ratings, Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden have the best equality. The U.S. is 19th, just behind the U.K. and the Netherlands. Yemen, Chad, Pakistan, and Mali have the lowest ranks.

Roy Baumeister is the psychologist at FSU who led the study. He says more gender equality leads to more sex because women don't need sex as a bargaining tool as much.

"If women don't have many opportunities to make money on their own, they need the value of sex to be as high as possible." But when they can make money, sex isn't such a commodity...so women are more likely to have lots of it."

THE JONAS BROS WILL BE BACK. I KNOW YOU WERE WORRIED.The JONAS BROTHERS have essentially been on hiatus...with NICK and JOE JONAS pursuing their own projects, and KEVIN JONAS sinking into a boring married life. But Joe says they DO plan to reunite...at some point.

He tells MTV, "Definitely, me and my bros, we are going to make another project eventually. Right now, we're just focused on the side projects and the individual stuff we're doing.

"In the next few years or a year or so, we're gonna make more music together...I love to make music, and I'm always creating. It doesn't stop that creating bug."

MMMM...FOOOOOOOOD!I'm typing this at 12:15pm, so this isn't helping the lunchtime craving over here!
Yesterday, "QSR Magazine" released its annual list of the 50 biggest quick-service and fast-food chains in the country, and ranked them by how many restaurants they opened or closed last year.

The big conclusions: Subway is still an unstoppable beast...Five Guys Burgers & Fries is growing faster than anyone, including their new Canton spot on The Strip...and you'd better get in your Quiznos now because it's in a lot of trouble.

Subway opened 816 new restaurants last year, which was easily the most. Dunkin' Donuts came in second, with 206 new openings.

Five Guys came in third. They opened 195...but that's more impressive considering they only had 541 in 2009. They grew 36% in one year...no other chain came close to that.

Krystal made the least of the top 50 chains, at $377 MILLION. I've never even heard of that. The rest of the bottom five are Cold Stone Creamery, Einstein Brothers Bagels, Captain D's, and Tim Hortons.

In terms of revenue per location, Chick-Fil-A (!!!! EAT MOR CHIKIN!!!!) does the best, at an average of $2.7 MILLION per location. McDonald's is second, Jason's Deli is third, Panera Bread is fourth, and In-N-Out Burger is fifth.

Baskin-Robbins has the lowest revenue per location, at $220,000 per store. The rest of the bottom five are Cold Stone Creamery, Quiznos, Subway, and Little Caesars.

SUMMER VACAY TIME IS RUNNING OUT!Were you aware that Monday was National Relaxation Day?

If you weren't, it's probably because National Relaxation Day is a made-up holiday created by Princess Cruise Lines. In their second annual "Relaxation Report", they found that Americans need some time to take it easy.

Nearly one in four Americans say that they've NEVER taken a relaxing vacation. (The survey doesn't make it clear whether they haven't taken a vacation, or just that all the ones they've taken were stressful. Sad, nonetheless.)

Of the 77% of us who HAVE had a relaxing vacation, it's been an average of three years since the last one.

That's why, according to Princess Cruises, three quarters of us are in favor of making August 15th a national holiday for relaxation.

The Relaxation Report also found that 74% of us say our health has suffered because of our inability to relax. Two out of five people say that it's harder to find time to relax than it is to stay within a budget.

Half of Americans say that smartphones make it harder to relax, and 54% of parents say that their ideal vacation would involve leaving their children at home.

OUR FAV SEXUAL POSITIONS!!Planning on having yourself some sex this weekend? Want to think about how millions of other people are doing it at the same time? No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway.

The huge online adult store Adam & Eve surveyed more than 1,000 Americans and asked them to name their favorite sexual position. And the result is...we are really boring. Here are the results...

Adam & Eve then asked people who shopped at their website...in other words, people who buy adult toys online...and they had a VERY different result.

For that group, from behind was number one at 53%...cowgirl was second...reverse cowgirl was third...and missionary came in LAST. Although technically spooning and sixty-nine were last, because they got NO votes.

TAKE A HINT?If you're looking to get a job where you can hook up with co-workers...become a lifeguard or work at an amusement park or something. Sweating your 20s away in a Taco Bell kitchen isn't really an environment to get all sexy.

But 24-year-old Jason Dean of Dalton, Georgia was going to try, dammit. Jason works at a Taco Bell in Ringgold, Georgia and had a thing for an 18-year-old female coworker. But every time he asked her out, she said no.

Finally, on Monday night, things reached their breaking point. While they were at work, Jason HANDCUFFED himself to the girl...and told his coworkers and the manager that he wouldn't unlock them until she talked to him.

The cops were called in, and Jason was arrested for false imprisonment, which is a felony.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

That's what I've heard several times, from different people in the last few days. It seems weird that today is essentially the last day of the festivities. And it seems the hype has been MUCH lower this year! Maybe that's just me. The concert line-up at the Ribs Burnoff is just about the weakest its ever been...or at least in a long time. Lack of a football game has and will hurt the local economy. It's a shame we won't get to see our city shine in the national spotlight. At least not as bright as we're used to.Still, there are some GREAT, LEGENDARY players being inducted this year, including Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders. Don't let the lack of a game over-shadow their fantastic contributions to the game we love.

Did you hit up some events though? Parade this morning? Food Fest or Ribs Burnoff this past week? Hope you did! If nothing else, it's FINE people watching.

ANYWAY, the reason you come here, let's get to it!

AT A WEDDING?According to a new survey, the place where a man is most likely to cheat on his wife is...a WEDDING!! Hopefully not his own, I guess.

Of the men in the survey who'd cheated, 32% said they'd done it at a wedding, making that the top answer.

A relationship expert says that can make sense. "At a wedding, all the elements are present for one-night stands. Quite a bit of booze, dancing, people dressed to impress, an air of sexual electricity, and access to hotel rooms."

Bachelor parties came in as the second-most common place that men had cheated, at 27%

Office Christmas parties came in third, at 21%. And high school or college reunions came in fourth, at 9%.

The survey also asked women where they THOUGHT men were most likely to cheat on them...and weddings actually came in LAST.

STOP EATING POPCORN!!!According to a recent study at UCLA, chemicals in the lining of the bag might cause infertility issues.

Wait...is that bad? Anyway...

And in animal testing, chemicals that are similar to the ones found in popcorn bags caused liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer.

OK, well that is.

Manufacturers have agreed to stop using the chemical, but it won't be phased out until 2015.

So just go to the movies until then. Sure, its $6 for popcorn, but you won't die!!

I'VE BEEN SITTIN AT A BAR...MAROON 5 singer ADAM LEVINE is working on another project with NBC...where he already serves as a coach on The Voice".

He's developing a sitcom set in a karaoke bar that will "blend comedy with vocal performances." It's pretty early in the process...so there's no word on a title, an airdate or casting.

Adam is an executive producer on the project, and at least for now, there's no indication that he'll actually appear on the show.

AMERICA'S KINKIEST CITIES...We've got plenty of kink for you right HERE, in America's heartland. Just book your flight to...Roselawn, Indiana?

The website Alternet.org put together a list of the 10 kinkiest cities in the U.S. based on strip clubs, sex stores, nudist resorts, and Internet searches. And, yep, Roselawn, Indiana beat out all the big boys.

They have a nudist resort called the Ponderosa Sun Club, and the annual Nudes-A-Poppin' pageant (seriously LOL), with strippers, porn stars, and drooling perverts. Here's the full list:

#1.) Roselawn, Indiana#2.) New Orleans, Louisiana #3.) Las Vegas, Nevada#4.) Hurley, Wisconsin. They have the highest ratio of strip clubs-to-residents in the U.S. With 1,547 residents and six clubs, that's one strip club for every 258 residents.#5.) Atlanta, Georgia#6.) New York, New York#7.) Austin, Texas#8.) Southern New Mexico and Southern West Virginia...last year, based on a study of the kinky terms people used in online dating profiles, southern New Mexico had the kinkiest men, and southern West Virginia had the kinkiest women. Quite frankly, I am FRIGHTENED that the kinkiest women are in WEST VIRGINIA!#9.) Chicago, Illinois#10.) San Francisco, California

IT'S ON...BETWEEN TWO HAS-BEENS...I'm going to go ahead and say IT'S ON between KELLY OSBOURNE and CHRISTINA AGUILERA...after Kelly called Christina a "FAT BITCH" on E! Oh, and she also called her the C-WORD.

Kelly was shooting a segment for E!'s "Fashion Police", when a photo of Christina in a tight black dress came up. After JOAN RIVERS commented that Christina looked like "Snooki's Scandinavian cousin", Kelly went off.

She said, "Maybe she's just becoming the fat bitch she was always born to be. I don't know. She was a [C-word] to me. And she bought my house!"

Kelly then explained why she was being so ruthless... "She called me fat for so many [effing] years, so you know what? [Eff] you, you're fat too!"

No response from Miss Aguilera...however, if you trace the feud all the way back to 2003, it appears KELLY started it all!

COOL VIDEO: BLINK-182's "UP ALL NIGHT"The concept for BLINK-182'S new "Up All Night" video is pretty cool. It begins with this message: "To launch our first single in eight years, AT&T helped us search YouTube for every instance of fans using our music without our permission...

"And then we rewarded them for it. This film is made out of clips from all those videos. Thanks for being a fan."

And that's exactly what it is: A montage of clips from fans' videos that included their music.

Check it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eabtzkY_jNs

DATIN' UGGO'S...I almost hate to say this and snap you out of your state of blissful ignorance. But what the hell. SOMEONE might as well tell you eventually.

A new study has proved that your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife isn't as HOT as you think they are.

Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands brought in 70 couples. They took headshot photographs of both people in every couple.

They had everyone rate their boyfriend or girlfriend's level of attractiveness, and their own level. Then, they had all of the other people go through the headshots and rate the attractiveness of the people in the pictures.

What did they find? Both men and women consistently rated their significant other's hotness MUCH HIGHER than strangers did. Both men and women also rated THEMSELVES hotter than strangers did.

But the researchers say this is actually a GOOD THING.Other studies have shown that people who are delusional about how hot their partner is generally feel happier, more loving, and more trusting in a relationship.

THE EVOLUTION OF COOL...For some reason, MSN decided to do an annoying slideshow of slang terms and where they came from. But the best part is looking at the evolution of slang terms for the word "cool" over the past 100 years.

It's amazing how we still use a lot of these today...SIKE!!!! (See what I did there?) Here are 29 ways to say something's "cool" over the past 100 years. And if some of them sound stupid, just think how lame WE'LL sound in a hundred years.